Children and soccer

Have you ever watched children playing soccer? Everyone chases the ball without any strategy or game plan. There is no team work and all they try to do is steal the ball, it doesn’t matter if from the opponent or one’s own teammate, and put it in the net.

Something similar is taking place in the world of wine where many producers are ready to follow a successful trend even if it is a passing fad and at the cost of betraying their own grapes and land. For example, everyone knows how in recent years sparkling wines have had a great success that shows no signs of diminishing. And this is not only true of Prosecco, which continues to see sales rise by two-digit percentages, but bubbly wines in general whether they be made using the traditional method or the Italian one (Charmat, long or Martinotti, whatever).

This phenomenon appears to have spread everywhere, in particular those areas that are not well-known or are suffering commercially, with the hope that producing a bubbly will be a cure-all for all their woes. Let me make it clear that I have nothing against ‘traditional’ sparkling wines (classic ones made with and/or Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) nor those made with native grapes some of which have produced some interesting, pleasing and, above all, unusual results. However, this does not mean that sparkling wine can be made anywhere for whatever reason, nor that it should become the core business for areas that clearly have a different vocation.

It is important to remember that in order to be used to make a sparkling wine, grapes must have specific characteristics: high acidity and a diversified aromatic profile. And these characteristics cannot necessarily be achieved by anticipating the harvest of certain grape varieties and even if they are it does mean that the grapes will produce a bubbly that is worth selling or buying. At best, it will be a pleasing sparkling wine but the question is whether it will be good enough to convince people to keep buying it.

In the end, the real problem is that all this will provoke a price war with producers forced to offer wines that cost less than Prosecco, Franciacorta or Trentodoc if they want to boost their business.